


More Than Certain  (aka Elv's Birthday Bash Round Robin 2017)

by bunnysworld, Chatzy-Fun Plu (Plutonia), Clea2011, Diana_Prallon, Elveatas (Ricecake), golden (Pelydryn), MoonChat (Moonflower999), Narlth



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-02-04 16:30:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12774960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnysworld/pseuds/bunnysworld, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Plutonia/pseuds/Chatzy-Fun%20Plu, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clea2011/pseuds/Clea2011, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diana_Prallon/pseuds/Diana_Prallon, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ricecake/pseuds/Elveatas, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pelydryn/pseuds/golden, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonflower999/pseuds/MoonChat, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narlth/pseuds/Narlth
Summary: It's cold out, the days are getting shorter, and Merlin is a little homesick. Arthur might have plans to make him feel better.





	More Than Certain  (aka Elv's Birthday Bash Round Robin 2017)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elveatas](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=elveatas).



> Happy Birthday Elveatas!
> 
> This story was written in Merlin_Chat as a round robin.  
> If you'd like to get to know us, come find us in Chatzy. Here's the info:  
> http://merlin-chat.livejournal.com
> 
> Come talk about Merlin (or anything else), support each other's creative endeavors, do sprints, rewatch episodes of Merlin (Fridays), etc.

Merlin wandered down a corridor and yawned. He usually loved the end of autumn that already showed the beginning of winter. At home, winter meant time together and not so much work. Things were really different here in Camelot. Here, it just got cold.

Because it got cold, Arthur needed more chores done. The fire in his rooms needed restocking. He wanted more hot baths (although Merlin was sneakily getting around that one by using magic). He was also rather grumpy because the days were short and he had less time to go out and have fun fighting with his knights.

At home, after the grain had been harvested and everything had been prepared for winter, there was not much to do. When they days were so short and candles a luxury saved for special times only, people instead huddled together for warmth near the fireplace and told each other stories to pass time time until spring came and the workload increased again.

Merlin trudged into Arthur’s rooms carrying two heavy buckets full of water. His mouth fell open, and he nearly dropped the steaming buckets of hot water all over the floor when Arthur interrupted his homesick musings. “So what was winter like for you in Ealdor, Merlin? I bet it’s a lot easier for you here.”

He stared at Arthur and shook his head in disbelief. “You really have no idea what my life was like, or for that matter, what it’s like now, do you? And no, not everything is better here. Right about now I’d be relaxing at home, near a warm fire, having mum’s soup, telling stories, and doing the things we have no time for during the growing season. We’d be planning surprises for each other for the winter festival. Not nearly as nice as lugging your gear around and filling your bath, sire.” He dumped the water into the tub, and smiled ruefully as he headed out for more water.

Back out in the castle corridor, Merlin huffed out a large breath, watching it steam before his eyes. He shook his head. Arthur really had no idea what life was like outside of the castle, despite what he thought.

Merlin brushed the back of his hand underneath his nose and sniffed. There was no need to show Arthur how much he missed his home, his friends and especially his mother. Would she miss the animals he conjured from the fireplace now that he was gone? When he turned around, Arthur, who had quietly followed Merlin into the corridor, was looking right at him.

"Have you forgotten something, Sire?" Merlin sniffed. "Some other thing you need?"

Arthur threw Merlin a long look and Merlin almost squirmed. Had he dirt on his face? Or was his shirt so rumpled that Arthur would frown at it again as he had done so many times? But Arthur didn't say anything for a long time.

"I'm sorry," Arthur said finally. "I didn't think about how you might be missing your mother at this time of year."

"It's fine," Merlin said, not wanting Arthur to know how affected he was. "In a way, you are right. Winters in Ealdor are only better than in Camelot the years we know we have enough food for everyone to survive through the winter. At least here, I know I won't starve."

***

Momentarily dumbstruck by a vision of Merlin and his mother struggling through the winter without enough food, Arthur just stared again. He winced at the thought of Merlin, who was already skinny, going without enough to eat. Of course, he knew peasants sometimes starved, and he took the responsibility of minimizing the suffering in his kingdom seriously--but he had never quite realized that someone he lov….was close to--had lived with such hardship as a regular, accepted part of his existence. Somehow, this hit him hard.

“Merlin, come have dinner with me tonight in my chambers.”

Merlin looked a little shaken, but Arthur smiled, gave him an encouraging look, turned on his heel, and headed back into his chambers, closing the door sharply--thus preventing any argument from his difficult manservant. He had some arrangements to make before dinner time.

***

Several minutes passed in which Merlin could do nothing but stare at the closed door in front of him. Did that actually just happen? Or had Merlin fallen asleep in the corridor—Again.

This hadn't really happened, right? He must have misunderstood that. This was just an order to bring Arthur his dinner. Merlin sighed. Yet another chore. For a brief moment he had hoped for Arthur to give him the evening off. But no such luck. Sighing once more for good measure, Merlin turned to take the empty bucket back and make his way to the kitchens to inform cook that Arthur wanted his dinner.

"Can you ask George to bring the dinner up?" Arthur called through the door after him. "And some mead. Then come back in here - you can have the bath when I've finished with it if you like."

 

Merlin frowned. Personally, he didn't think he smelled that bad, but if the water was still warm after Arthur he done he might actually voluntarily go for a dip. Taking a proper bath in a tub was much better than washing off with a cloth or pouring cold water over yourself after you'd been in the stocks.

 

When Merlin got back to the room, having taken rather a long time to find George, he thought that Arthur would be nearly done with his bath. But what he found was a clothed and still dry Arthur waiting for him.

“I changed my mind. I thought maybe you'd like a soak in some warm, clean water. If you'd like.” Arthur's cheeks grew red, and Merlin was stunned by the sight. Stunned, and hopeful. Maybe Arthur wasn't as much of a thoughtless arse as he appeared to be on first glance.

“I, uh, yeah, yeah. I’ll just...um, thank you Arthur.” Merlin looked around awkwardly, and glanced at Arthur for permission to step behind the screen. Arthur nodded and threw him a towel from the linen chest.

As Merlin approached the tub, Arthur said nonchalantly, “It’s probably gone rather tepid. You might want to give it a zap to warm it up a bit.”

Merlin stood there, stark naked, and closed his eyes. He found he just could not will himself to open them. He shook from head to toe, whether from the cold or sheer panic, he knew not. “How long have you known?” he asked, finally able to peek quickly at Arthur.

Arthur just grinned. “Longer than you’d guess. Warm up the water and get in the tub before you shatter into a thousand pieces.”

Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder, and he was turned around with a gentle shove. Merlin steeled himself, meeting Arthur's gaze and half expecting rejection. Fear. Hatred. "You know, I've never seen it up close like this before," said Arthur thoughtfully. "Your eyes- they're really... they look. Um. Nice."

“Nice?” Merlin repeated, stunned. Surely Arthur couldn’t be coming onto him now? That, along with the apparent acceptance of the magic, and the offer of an evening relaxing together, was… Actually, that would make sense. If only it wasn’t so impossible to believe. “Nice?”

“Yes… um… you don’t have to keep repeating it,” Arthur told him, blushing a bit. “I mean, if you’re not… um… interested.”

And wasn't that just the most ironic thing of all -- that Arthur could be offering him **so**  much and thinking that _Merlin_  might not be interested? Truth was that, in spite of his protests since they first met, there had never been a time when Merlin _wasn't_  interested. Even their first encounter, charged as it was, had left him tingling, wanting, wishing, waiting for more that he couldn't even name. A night in the cold cells had done little to dampen his ardor, not when it had been much more about the way they seemed to just _click_ , pushing each other's buttons without even trying. It was not about lust - it was far too easy to fall into lust with Camelot's golden Prince, but he fancied that even before the dragon had declared them to be destined, a little part of him had already fallen in love with Arthur. Not that it had precluded him hating the prince as well, because he _was_  a royal prat and never let you forget it, but still it had been inevitable. Now, well, he couldn't even begin to fathom how to answer Arthur's comment.

So he didn’t answer. Instead he looked from Arthur and over to the steaming bath, then back to Arthur again. He opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again and said, “I should probably get in the bath.”

Arthur’s shoulders slumped. “Right,” he said. “I did offer it to you.”

“You could join me, if you want,” Merlin offered.

Arthur's lips turned slightly upwards at the corners, as if he weren't sure whether to be happy or not. “Are you sure? I mean, if you're not—”

Merlin walked straight over to stand in front of Arthur and put his hand over his lips to keep him from saying anything more. “I'm sure. Positive. Thrilled. More certain than I have been about anything ever. So shut up. Sire.” He tried to imbue the title with all the filthy, insolent longings he had ignored for years. He tried to make Arthur see.

And suddenly, Merlin was pressed against a wall, Arthur's mouth slammed against his. It was exhilarating—had he ever felt such joy?

At last Arthur pulled away.

“That was hardly fair,” Merlin murmured, leaning into him. “You're all dressed and I'm as bare as the day I was born.”

“Well, we should change that then, shouldn’t we,” rasped Arthur, voice dark with desire. He took Merlin’s hand, guiding it to his shirt buttons. “Why don’t you help me out a bit?” he suggested, looking at him from beneath thick lashes.

Merlin breathed heavily, but followed suit, hands trembling. Was he dreaming? Or was this really happening right now? The way Arthur looked at him, all longingly and wanting… he could not have imagined ever being subject to such a gaze.

Arthur drew him forward, snaking a hand around his back, resting temptingly close above his buttocks.

“Well? Get on with it, Merlin. Or have you suddenly grown incapable of undressing someone?” he teased, shaking his head. “Honestly, you do it every day. What am I going to do with such an incompetent servant?”

"I'll show you how incompetent I am," Merlin replied from under his eyelashes, moistening his lips with his tongue for two could play that game.

Arthur's groan made Merlin's blood hotter than dragonfire, spreading through all of his body in spite of the winter chill. There was no space for coldness when Arthur's mouth was on his again, and his hands were hastening to take off every piece of clothing he could reach -- with a judicious use of magic to help too -- until they were gloriously naked, skin against skin, and the heat from their touch alone could have kept the whole castle warm. It was everything Merlin had ever dreamt of and more, the bath long forgotten as they got lost in each other's arms, the world itself sinking into nothing as they got together, as it should have been, as it was promised, as it was _right_.

Later, much later, they would notice the water spilt from the tub as they moved to the bed -- still warm, the fire roaring in the fireplace without any logs to feed it; the flames still burning when the candles should long have died. Arthur took it all in and laughed, delighted.

"Well, it seems I found a good way of saving fuel during the winter," he joked, but there was a vulnerability in his eyes that melted Merlin's heart all over again.

"Are you adding to my chores?" Merlin teased, wanting to prolong the moment, and Arthur blushed.

"Is it such burden?"

"The best," Merlin whispered, sealing it with a kiss that Arthur lost no time in responding to.

(They could bathe in the morning).


End file.
